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The World's Last Mysteries (And Other Fallacies)

Semisensical ramblings by David W. Rick

  • Anti-Racist Resources

Shippey’s J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century

Posted by Dave Rick

“The continuing appeal of Tolkien’s fantasy, completely unexpected and completely unpredictable though it was, cannot then be seen as a mere freak of popular taste, to be dismissed or ignored by those sufficiently well-educated to know better. It deserves an explanation and a defence, which this book tries to supply. In the process, I argue […]

Posted in Rhetoric and Composition Tagged 21st Century, Fantasy, Fiction, Genre, J. R. R. Tolkien 2 Comments

McAllister’s Game Work: Language, Power, and Computer Game Culture

Posted by Dave Rick

“Like other forms of media, computer games can work to build up, maintain, or reject what players (among others) believe about a wide range of subjects, from the constitution of truth and goodness to understandings of social mores and global politics. Like poetry, fiction, journalism, and film, computer games can work work to maintain the […]

Posted in Rhetoric and Composition Tagged 21st Century, Games, Theory Leave a comment

Feldon and Kafai’s “Mixed Methods for Mixed Reality: Understanding Users’ Avatar Activities in Virtual Worlds”

Posted by Dave Rick

“The second challenge for data interpretation is the lack of real-world analogues for some kinds of virtual events (Salomon 1994). For example, some virtual worlds permit ‘teleporting’ between locations within the environment (Fields and Kafai 2007). When users teleport, they disappear from one virtual location and appear in another without following a contiguous path. While […]

Posted in Rhetoric and Composition Tagged 21st Century, Avatars, Technology, Theory Leave a comment

Le Guin’s Cheek by Jowl

Posted by Dave Rick

“I hope that teenagers find the real heroic fantasies, like Tolkien’s. I know such fantasies continue to be written. And I hope the publishers and packagers and promoters and sellers of fantasy honor them as such. While fantasy can indeed be mere escapism, wish-fulfillment, indulgence in empty heroics and brainless violence, it isn’t so by […]

Posted in Rhetoric and Composition Tagged 21st Century, Fantasy, Fiction, Theory Leave a comment

Verlyn Flieger’s SPLINTERED LIGHT: LOGOS AND LANGUAGE IN TOLKIEN’S WORLD

Posted by Dave Rick

“Tolkien’s great essay ‘On Fairy-stories’ is the best and deepest consideration I have encountered of the nature, origin, and value of myth and fantasy, as well as the most cogent commentary on his own work. Here, among the many nuggets of pure gold, is the clearest statement of his working theory of fantasy. ‘For creative […]

Posted in Rhetoric and Composition Tagged 20th Century, 21st Century, Fantasy, Fiction, Genre, J. R. R. Tolkien Leave a comment

Dennett’s INTUITION PUMPS AND OTHER TOOLS FOR THINKING

Posted by Dave Rick

“The middle ground, roughly halfway between poetry and mathematics, is where philosophers can make their best contributions, I believe, yielding genuine clarifications of deeply puzzling problems . There are no feasible algorithms for doing this kind of work. Since everything is up for grabs, one chooses one’s fixed points with due caution.” –Daniel C. Dennett […]

Posted in Rhetoric and Composition Tagged 21st Century, Games, Theory Leave a comment

Hurley, Dennett, and Adams’ INSIDE JOKES: USING HUMOR TO REVERSE-ENGINEER THE MIND

Posted by Dave Rick

“Our brains are engaged full time in real-time (risky) heuristic search, generating presumptions about what will be experienced next in every domain. This time-pressured, unsupervised generation process has necessarily lenient standards and introduces content-not all of which can be properly checked for truth-into our mental spaces. If left unexamined, the inevitable errors in these vestibules […]

Posted in Rhetoric and Composition Tagged 21st Century, Theory Leave a comment

Johnson’s A RHETORIC OF PLEASURE: PROSE STYLE & TODAY’S COMPOSITION CLASSROOM

Posted by Dave Rick

“This renegade line of thought values rhetoric not as ‘formulaic discourse’ or pure technique, but rather as the activity of learning and wondering; a process that eschews the constraints of a singular ‘purpose or end or stance’ and cultivates instead a ‘suppleness of mind’ well-suited to address continuously evolving social contexts.” — T. R. Johnson […]

Posted in Rhetoric and Composition Tagged 21st Century, Rhetoric, Teaching, Theory Leave a comment

Koster’s A THEORY OF FUN FOR GAME DESIGN

Posted by Dave Rick

“What is fun? If you dig into the origins of the word, it comes either from ‘fonne,’ which is ‘fool’ in Middle English, or from ‘fonn,’ which means ‘pleasure’ in Gaelic. Either way, fun is defined as ‘a source of enjoyment.’ This can happen via physical stimuli, aesthetic appreciation, or direct chemical manipulation.” — Raph […]

Posted in Rhetoric and Composition Tagged 21st Century, Games, Teaching, Theory Leave a comment

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    David W. Rick, PhD
    • I finished writing a blog post I began a long time ago in a world that now feels far, far away: https://t.co/0eee8Bwz0L 05:01:59 PM May 13, 2020 from TweetDeck ReplyRetweetFavorite
    • @neilhimself I taught that one in a few of my classes some years back. Quite fun! 09:15:34 PM February 23, 2020 from Twitter for Android in reply to neilhimself ReplyRetweetFavorite
    • @michaelslore @BToltecatl Well, that sounds intriguing! 11:50:26 AM February 21, 2020 from Twitter for Android in reply to michaelslore ReplyRetweetFavorite
    • RT @Freebird8626: @LdnBkshopCrawl @neilhimself @giveabookorg As a longtime fan, I'm reaching out asking for help in funding the spinal cord… 01:03:44 PM January 28, 2020 from Twitter for Android ReplyRetweetFavorite
    • @NinjaFingers Agreed! There's no logic whatsoever in tying alignment to species. 12:47:01 PM January 27, 2020 from Twitter for Android in reply to NinjaFingers ReplyRetweetFavorite
    • RT @NinjaFingers: Humanity Fired First! Follow the diplomats who must end the war in Transpecial. #spaceopera #sciencefiction https://t.co/… 07:04:04 AM January 27, 2020 from Twitter for Android ReplyRetweetFavorite
    • @NinjaFingers It's also just not a reliably reliable source, but it's a decent place to find a few references. 05:39:42 AM January 25, 2020 from Twitter for Android in reply to NinjaFingers ReplyRetweetFavorite
    • RT @Heather_Horton: “I don’t want realism, I want magic!”~Tennessee Williams “The Albatross”, oil on panel, 10”x30”, private collection. h… 02:55:56 PM January 24, 2020 from Twitter Web App ReplyRetweetFavorite
    • RT @vanessa_vash: It showed how we are valued. It hurt me a lot. It is the worst thing I have ever seen in my life.” https://t.co/KWZzp99g… 02:53:46 PM January 24, 2020 from Twitter Web App ReplyRetweetFavorite
    • RT @tuckeve: Exciting news! Please share! You can read Indigenous and Decolonizing Studies in Education, edited by Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Eve… 11:24:51 AM August 24, 2018 from TweetDeck ReplyRetweetFavorite
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